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Death by vehicle charges have been filed against the driver of the van that crashed on NC 18 in Alleghany Sunday night, and the identity of the man killed have been released by the State Patrol. Trooper Aldridge identified the deceased as Oscar Manolo Mendoza Prejo, 31,
killed in the 7:20pm crash and pronounced dead on the scene. Charged in his death is Juan Carlos Mendez Pena, 26, also with a Jefferson address, charged with misdemeanor death by vehicle. Pena was the driver that lost control of the 15-passenger van with the ten men on board, returning to Jefferson from working in a Christmas tree farm in Alleghany when the wreck occurred on Jane Taylor hill. Trooper Aldridge said that 10 were working legally with proper credentials, and that all the injured still hospitalized were stable.